The Fighting Lady

"Fighting Lady" remains, along with William Wyler's "Memphis Belle" and John Huston's "Battle of San Pietro", one of the finest documentaries produced during World War II. Although released by 20th Century Fox with a Hollywood soundtrack and narration by movie star Robert Taylor, the film itself includes no actors, special effects or "CGI". All the footage was filmed as it happened by Navy personnel, often under very dangerous circumstances.

I've always had a soft spot for this film because my father was among the U.S. Navy cameramen who filmed it. Of course his name doesn't appear anywhere in the credits because, like most of them, he was merely an enlisted man, and only the officers' names were ever mentioned. He took that famous shot of that Japanese torpedo bomber flying right overhead and then crashing into the sea; as well as the one of the crewman in the asbestos fire-suit fleeing the runaway Hellcat fighter, which then crashes into the superstructure right in front of the camera. (There were no telephoto lenses in those days, the cameramen really DID get that close to the action!) Doubling as rear gunner, he flew in the planes that raided Marcus and Truk, as well as during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and he took the pictures of the Kawanishi "Emily" flying boat being shot down into the sea. His was not the safest job in the Navy.

Considering the state of the equipment available, the quality of the film is outstanding. Color film was rare in those days, and the type available was so "slow" that it could only be used under conditions of bright light. There were no such things as cameras with automatic exposure control, so the cameramen had to judge the exposure setting and hope they got it right, often under combat conditions. Standard 35mm movie cameras were far to bulky, so all footage was taken with smaller 16mm movie cameras. 16mm film frames are 1/4 the size of 35mm film frames, so the resulting images had to be enlarged four times before they could be projected in the standard movie format of the day. That is the reason why the images often appear to be slightly fuzzy, an effect that Steven Spielberg spent a million dollars to replicate in "Saving Private Ryan".

There were no such things as "camcorders", and the movie cameras had no provision for recording sound. Consequently, all sound effects had to be added later, at the studio in Hollywood. Some time after he worked on "Fighting Lady", the Navy issued my father a "wire recorder" similar to the type featured in the movie, "The Two Jakes". The idea was that he would carry it with him into combat and use it to record the actual sounds of the battle while he was filming it. The recorder weighed 60 pounds and was powered by a wet cell battery, similar to the type used on motorcycles. My father had never seen anything like it and was very impressed with the technology. Unfortunately, the first place he had an opportunity to try it out was during the amphibious invasion of an island called Iwo Jima. He threw the bulky thing away as soon as he hit the beach!

"Fighting Lady" was very well received when it was released. One little-known aftereffect of that was that Admiral Lockwood, the commander of the submarines in the Pacific, requested that Edward Steichen's camera unit make a similar movie on one of his submarines. My father volunteered to accompany a submarine (the USS Spot) on a combat patrol in order to determine whether the project was feasible. It turned out that it wasn't. Conditions inside the submarine were too close and dark to film in color, and it was not possible to use additional lighting because they might blind crew members at a critical moment. In addition the submarine had to be ready to submerge at any moment, so no unnecessary personnel (meaning my father) were permitted on deck. It was a very eventful patrol, in which two enemy ships were sunk and the sub herself nearly lost. However, my father ended up with little to show for it, apart from a back injury that continued to plague him for the rest of his life.

After a very eventful war my father was invalided home from Okinawa, where he was currently serving with the 77th Infantry Division, having been wounded for the second time in the course of that campaign alone. Although he left the Navy a mere Second Class Petty Officer, his decorations included the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts, two Presidential Unit Citations, the Submarine Combat Pin and the Asiatic-Pacific campaign medal with 12 campaign stars.

He sometimes used to comment about how often those old films would be shown, of Kamikazes crashing headlong into ships or Marines landing on Pacific beach heads, in documentaries or as stock footage in movies, and yet it seldom occurred to the viewers to wonder about the men who photographed them.

Security being an important wartime measure, this aircraft carrier's name was classified as a result. However, most of the footage, above and below decks, about life aboard a carrier was filmed aboard the newly commissioned ESSEX class carrier, YORKTOWN. She was named and sponsored by Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt January 1943 after the "OLD YORKY" which was lost during the The Battle of Midway

The Navy Department reported that at least 75 percent of the documentary footage was shot aboard YORKTOWN, with the remaining footage shared between HORNET and TICONDEROGA. And one scene filmed aboard BUNKER HILL.

Before shaping a course for Panama and transit through the canal, and while still on her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea Frontier Area, Commander Frank "Spig" Wead, the crippled naval aviator turned screenwriter was instrumental in getting YORKTOWN's captain, J.J. "Jocko" Clark to allow Twentieth Century Fox to film some background shots for the new war movie, "Wing and a Prayer", starring Dana Andrews, Don Ameche, and Charles Bickford.

The carrier transits and clears the Panama Canal and shapes a course out into the Pacific. So YORKTOWN along with her ESSEX class sisters would become, before Japan surrendered, the champions of the Pacific naval campaign. They were to carry the ball, the Sunday punch, all the way to Tokyo Bay.

Of all the combat photography recorded it was the aerial footage that was impressive for its time. With the strafing and bombing of ground targets on Marcus Island YORKTOWN's aviators receive their baptism of fire. They could now call themselves combat veterans. Then there is the strike against the large Japanese naval anchorage at Truk Lagoon in the Carolines.

Appearing on the film with members of his staff is Vice Admiral Marc A. "Pete" Mitscher. Also present with Mitscher but not named was Rear Admiral John S. "Slew" McCain. His grandson being Lt Commander John S. McCain III. The Viet Nam war veteran. Now serving as the Senator for Arizona.

There is a fine aerial shot of the carrier task force resting at anchor at Majuro Atoll in the Marshal Islands early in 1944. Three of YORKTOWN's sister ships are present along with the older battle-hardened veteran the venerable ENTERPRISE. Also at anchor the battleships INDIANA, and a NEW Mexico class battleship along with cruisers, destroyers and other support ships. Standing out and conspicuously painted white overall, BOUNTIFUL AH-9, a naval hospital ship.

During the assault on the Marianas Islands June 1944 the Japanese Mobile Fleet launched 373 aircraft to attack the U.S. Fleet. The combined squadrons of YORKTOWN and her sister carriers of Vice Admiral Mitscher's Task Force 58 intercepted the attack, with the loss to the enemy of more than 300 aircraft destroyed. So the Battle of the Phillipine Sea was to become just as famously known as, The Great Marianas Turkey shoot.

Plaudits then are well deserved for Edward Steichen but certainly no less to Dwight Long and other photographers who presided over the job of shooting thousands of feet of 16mm Kodachrome film stock. The film actor Robert Taylor was the narrator. His voice was crisp and clear and easy recognisable.

Twentieth Century Fox's Darryl F. Zanuck was not known to be very interested about releasing the documentary under the Fox logo. That's until he was persuaded to view it. He was impressed by what he saw. The story goes that he suggested giving it the title, "The Fighting Wench"! Who would not have cringed at such a brain dead title as that! An ungracious suggestion. Yorktown was indeed a great lady, as were her other sisters of the Essex class. So, recorded for posterity was a fine 60 minute documentary. The 1944 Oscar it received was well and truly deserved.

"The Fighting Lady" is a documentary about an Essex class aircraft carrier during its tour in 1943-1944. The film is narrated by Robert Taylor--who was a lieutenant in the Naval Air Corps. Interestingly, there was a French version and it was narrated by Charles Boyer. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary. The ship was apparently the USS Yorktown--but not the original one (it was lost as a result of damage sustained at the Battle of Midway in 1942).

As you watch the film, you will no doubt notice that the print is in terrible condition, as the print is a bit blurry and the color is very faded. Perhaps it's made worse because originally it was shot on 16mm film stock.

The film is particularly interesting for historians, navy and aircraft buffs and perhaps for folks who lived through the war. Otherwise, I doubt if the average person would enjoy the film very much or rent it or buy it in the first place. It isn't that it's poorly made--it's that it's just very dated and the narration a bit dry. But, if you can look past this, it is a very good film from start to finish.

By the way, there were only two films nominated in this category for 1945--this one and "Resisting Enemy Interrogation"! Both are quite interesting and well made--and interesting peeks into the Americans in WWII.

I must have been 9 or 10 years old when i saw this movie in my hometown of Simcoe, Ontario, Canada and remember being impressed with the brilliant colors of the ocean and sky. At that time as a kid living on a farm I had never seen an aircraft carrier and recall being amazed at the size of this ship. This past summer, without realizing it until I boarded the ship, I toured the actual carrier featured in this movie. It was decommissioned in 1983 and is now docked at Charleston S.C. It was here that I really discovered its immense size and climbed from deck to deck realizing the dedication of the officers and men must have had to keep this floating city operational. I seem to recall the high action and fast timing of this film. How I would love to see this wonderful movie again after all these years. Where can it be obtained?

First saw this when I was 9 years old. All I remember is the color film in the gun cameras and all the action. Sad to see that the movie isn't even listed in most data bases (thanks IMDb)!

Does anyone know how to locate a copy of this film?